The Valley

Sweet organic scents waft softly through the vast and endless valley where myriads of trees grow in tight rows marked by long lines of rich, robust soils that brighten with the rising sun. I am happily lost in the incessant sounds of bees buzzing, working in chaotic order within delicate white orchard blossoms. Their hum is mesmerizing and hypnotic my fingers caress the ripe, orange talismans. Dust and sweat mingle with hard work in this land as farmhands goad the earth to produce its lot. Strong arms dig the dirt in endless cycles tractors leave their distinctive marks sprinklers water the thirsty ground for miles. I can see the valley’s shimmering lifeline the wide aqueduct of the San Joaquin river it flows like a liquid heart with precious water thoroughly quenching the longing roots that grow underground in quiet tranquility. Those who work the land know it’s hidden secrets I am just an admiring stranger, passing through though I feel I have a small sense of it...a glimpse …a place of laboring hands upon the earth and a yielding of the elements within its midst. There is a synergy of land and sky a curve of the earth that intersects the horizon a mystical union, a hint of heaven a clarion moment in time. 5/15/2021